Fans Enchant Dolphin

They Lured Nat Moore Back Into The Quest

Miami Dolphin fans, you asked for it, so you got it. This one`s for you. This season, this championship game, this Super Bowl, if it comes to that, are all for you.

Well, almost all. When a guy has given his career to a team and a city, he`s entitled to at least a little piece for himself.

So one reason Nat Moore will be trying to help the Dolphins beat the New England Patriots in Sunday`s American Football Conference championship game is that ``the quest for a championship has driven me. The loss to the 49ers in the Super Bowl last year was the worst and emptiest feeling I`ve ever had, dating back through high school.``

But it was followed immediately by the warmest feeling the Dolphins` wide receiver could possibly have imagined. When the beaten AFC champions returned to a civic celebration, and Moore, who had announced his intention to retire, was presented to the crowd, the chant of ``one more year, one more year``

began to swell.

It sent shivers of emotion through him. ``The biggest factor in changing my mind,`` Moore says, ``was the fan support. That was a very emotional experience. The one thing they can never take away is how you are treated and respected by the people who are more important to you than anyone else, the people you are playing in front of.``

And so it came to be, one more year in search of that championship that Moore has never quite been able to grab.

It is the only thing he hasn`t gotten his hands on in his 12-year career. Moore, who joined the Dolphins the season after they had won the second of their two consecutive Super Bowls, holds almost every Dolphin receiving record, and has turned his swan song into a glorious full-throated aria.

His 51 catches this year were only one short of his career best, and his seven touchdown receptions led the team.

He hung up those impressive numbers despite being limited to a bit role, like an actor who had been accustomed to starring as Hamlet stealing the show as Polonius.

Moore has become a third-down possession-type receiver, a perfect foil for the explosive Marks Brothers, Duper and Clayton.

``The hardest mental adjustment has been just the acceptance of the fact that I`m not the No. 1 receiver anymore,`` he says. ``But, then, I`ve had plenty of time to adjust.``

Moore made an immediate impact on the Dolphins as a rookie out of Florida, but when Bob Griese retired and ``we had some quarterback turmoil, I guess that`s when my career started to suffer.

``But I also had some injuries, so you can`t blame anyone else. Then Dan Marino came along, and coach (Don) Shula had the confidence in him to open the offense, and it was just a blessing for me.``

Physically, Moore concedes, ``I`m not able to do some of the things I was able to do early or at the height of my career.

``But I try to make up for the loss of some ability through my knowledge of the game. I`ve never been a blazing speed receiver, anyway. Now I`m strictly a possession-type receiver, and I come in for certain passing situations.``

Which is not all bad when you`re playing a young man`s game on 34-year-old legs. ``One of the advantages of not playing as much at my age,`` he says, ``is you`re fresh. You can sit on the bench and watch the defensive backs and see how they`re covering the receivers. You get a pretty good idea of what should work and what won`t work.``

The Bears can testify how well Moore has adapted to his role. It was his two touchdown receptions in the Dolphins` 38-24 victory that as much as anything prevented them from going unbeaten in the regular season.

``That wasn`t necessarily my best game of the year,`` he says. ``It`s just that the Bears were unbeaten, it was Monday night, a lot of people were watching and the few things I did got a lot of publicity.``

Although he`s never won a Super Bowl ring, Moore feels he has been one of the chosen. He has played with two of the great quarterbacks in NFL history.

``I feel very, very fortunate not only to have had those two quarterbacks, but this type of a system where if you have talent the staff will find a way to utilize your talent instead of letting it sit and demise.`` He hesitates to compare Griese, who led the Dolphins to their two Super Bowls, with Marino, who has taken the league by storm in his three years.

``It wouldn`t be fair to either,`` Moore says. ``For the type of quarterback he was at the time he played, Griese had the ultimate assets. There have been a lot of rule changes since then which stress more of a passing game.

``Dan`s biggest asset is his ability to throw the ball. So each in their time was the best at what he did.``

Moore couldn`t be happier that the fans asked him back and that he had the good sense to listen to them. ``This has been a lot of fun,`` he says,

``and I guess at this stage of my career that`s what the game is about.

``The game itself is exciting, but the opportunity to play for a world championship is the ultimate. But that`s something almost three weeks away.

``We expect a dogfight Sunday with the Patriots. It`s unreal how they`ve been playing,`` Moore says. ``Forget about those 18 games in a row that we`ve beaten them here. That`s something you throw out. The key to the game is how well they`re playing right now, and how well we`re playing.

``In championship football games, you forget about the past and deal with the present.``

Past or present, Moore has been a very good deal for the Dolphins. And Sunday, those fans who were entreating Moore to give them ``one more year``